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As you plan to stay or have already stayed at the elephant home in Kikorongo community, next to Queen Elizabeth National park, it is important to know how this community lodge relates to the local community and what your stay means to the local community and the environment in and around Queen Elizabeth national park.
The elephant home is an accommodation facility owned and run by the local community. It was started in 2016 to empower the local people through involving them in tourism to drive direct benefits from local natural and cultural tourism resources. until now, the elephant home is the main sponsor supporting tourism tourism product development, innovation, conservation and community empowerment initiatives of the people in Kikorongo community. No wonder, the elephant home is refereed to as the only tourist lodge that knows the local peoples needs, by the local people.
The elephant home implements all community development and conservation initiatives through an established community development committee made of of local development and government institutions. Thus all the community activities supported by the elephant home are fully owned and managed by the locals themselves.
In the past years, Kikorongo community was never involved in tourism activities. Tourism businesses in and around this village were all owned and run by non residents of this community. The locals instead exclusively kept gathering, farming and doing other petty businesses to survive on firewood collection and sale, charcoal burning, hunting for bush meat, and other subsistence activities.
The lodge was started as a pilot for sustainable livelihoods through tourism. This was started by few community members after they had a chance to visit Ruboni community camp and appreciated how it is empowering the local communities in the Rwenzori foothills at the base camp of Mihunga gate.
Over the years, the community has established over ten community tourism activities that also link Kikorongo to other surrounding villages, trained the women and youth, created employment to the locals and established sustainable livelihood activities in Kikorongo village.
The elephant home enriches Queen Elizabeth visitor experience?
The elephant home enables the visitors to stay in this community, meet the people, and learn the local way of life. This way visitors can learn the other side of the the most enjoyed wildlife safari in queen Elizabeth National Park, demonstrating how the local people relate with wildlife. On the other hand, linking the local people to tourism in this way creates many livelihoods opportunities to them.
In this regard, the elephant home enables the local community earns income from tourism when they sell their local goods and services to the tourists. This gives the community tangible benefits of conserving the park which is otherwise impossible without direct sales and income to the grass root residents.
What does the Elephant home do for Kikorongo community?
The Elephant home has opened Kikorongo village to community tourism. The lodge provides financial and non financial support to facilitate, training, investment, and mentorship roles to ensure that the local communities can use tourism as a vehicle for sustainable livelihood that make them resilient to the impacts of climate change, or reduce poaching and gathering for daily survival. The lodge puts the community first, by directly supporting initiatives that improve the local way of life. These are the specific activities the elephant home is doing for the local community promote tourism and sustainable livelihoods in Kikorongo community;
Training and skills.
The elephant home supports training the locals in different skills especially those related to production, tourism and sustainable natural resource use. We have trained the youth and women on making charcoal briquettes, handmade paper, making organic manure, on waste recycling, handicrafts development and tourism service delivery.
Providing a market for local goods and services.
The elephant home is a selling center for local goods and services to the tourists. The revenue generated from these sales directly goes to the local people who produce them. The lodge has a gift shop, sales village tours and experience all owned and run by the local community, providing a sustainable source of revenue to the local people.
Creation of tourism enterprises for the community as alternative income streams.
The elephant home has created several tours, such as the Kikorongo bodaboda safari, Kikorongo village tour, the Kahokya hill trek to the mountain side, the coffee/ vanilla and cocoa growing experience, the cotton growing tour and others. These enable the local to generate income from the tourists hence diverting their livelihoods from extracting natural resources and poaching from the park.
Provision or linking of relief and aid to the community during the time of crisis.
During times of need and crisis, the elephant home has provided. During hard times like covid19, poor harvest leading to famine and other emergencies, the elephant home both mobilizes and provides external support to the community.
Adult literacy and education support to the local residents.
The Elephant home is conducting literacy classes for the women, men and local school going children. This is aimed to increase the local rate of English language communication in the three levels of writing, reading and speaking. Over 70 people are currently benefiting and the impact is immense.
Promoting environment conservation and sustainable production.
The entire community benefits from the conservation awareness, classes and programs of tree planting, proper waste management, organic gardening and energy briquette making.
Creation of Employment.
The elephant home employs only local people in categories of direct or indirect employment on full-time and part time basis. If there is need of external technical skills, the lodge contracts experts to train the local staff and they are allowed to take over. besides, all the other programs supported by the elephant home are aimed on increasing innovation, productivity and generation of more local jobs for the locals themselves.
Any of the above avenues of supporting the elephant home and Kikorongo community are open to anybody who may want to put a smile on someones face in Kikorongo community. you can contact the Elephant home by whats-app on this website to explore more options about this call.
Challenges met by the Elephant home when supporting the local community
Cuurrently, all development resources and support are directed to support the above solutions that we believe will help empower the local residents of Kikorongo community
Here is an opportunity to participate in these projects and change someone’s life
If you can imagine what you would go through in one day without water in your home, then you can understand what the people in Kikorongo go through all their life. The needs of Kikorongo community form a perfect opportunity for anyone or any charitable organization to do something that touches someone’s life and ripples to the entire community.
We continue to request for any support from well-wishers and charitable organization that can stretch their hand to help the elephant home empower the local people in this village while creating a secure space for the future generations and the local wildlife in and outside Queen Elizabeth National park.
The support can be one-time or long term on contract basis. This support can be in all ranges from volunteering for a day to providing materials and equipment, skills and or financial contribution to any of the projects.
This community run kazinga channel Boat cruise is Simple, affordable, flexible, and amazing!
It is the Kazinga channel Boat experience that you have never taken before. Looking for wildlife in the most unique way, that nothing stands between you and the animals. Not even the trees or plants allow these animals to hide for one minute. During this kazinga Channel Boat cruise, you will find the animals are in action, lined on the banks cooling off!
A new Kazinga boat cruise is organized by the local community. Besides the cruise itself, the guides are very hospitable and they cater to every need. While on the boat, you even get safely closer to the animals than you would on any occasion, for that unique moment with these animals in their natural habitat. No wonder all our guests’ community who choose this trip during their visit to Queen Elizabeth really love this boat safari experience. The stay at the elephant home makes this experience even more complete. It makes the Kazinga channel more accessible by all means of transport; private, public, or bodaboda!
This had never been possible before. It has always been so hard for guests to sort their boat cruise. The fixed times for the cruise are also no longer there to limit your chances of participating in the cruise. Come any time of the day and you will go for the cruise. It runs any time of the day, between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm. this means the earliest you can take is at 7:00am while the latest you can take is at 5:00pm, allowing 2 hours of the experience before 7:00pm, the closing time of the park gates.
Will you be alone or two and you fear there may be no people to join? No problem. Now you don’t need to be a big group to enjoy this amazing animal viewing experience. If you’re alone, you need just one or two more people to join. Alternatively, you can pay an extra fee for this one person then the boat safari is all yours! Besides, in most cases, we always have that small number of people waiting to join us. This is why we are able to have this sorted without you hustling.
run by local community guides living in and around Queen Elizabeth is a sustainability strength of this experience. Our guides are not hired from far. They are just the community members who have lived with the wild animals all their life in the queen Elizabeth habitat. during the cruise, you may not get all the general scientific facts about this wildlife, but you will be getting the specific and latest facts about how these animals live with the people harmoniously sharing the Queen Elizabeth National park habitat.
Queen Elizabeth is a human biosphere. It is a habitat equally shared by people and wildlife. Over time the animals have adjusted to the people’s behavior just as the people have to the needs of the animals, creating a harmony that you will be amazed at, during this boat cruise.
The innovation of both the people and wild animals addressing the challenges is another aspect that makes this cruise unique to all others. During the tour, you will see households, fishermen, and tourists sharing the same waters with the hippos, buffalos, elephants, crocodiles and wonder how they manage to do this.
Remember, guests who stay with us, at the elephant home, on the night before they participate in this boat cruise find it a lot easier to benefit from our arrangements, hospitable guides, and the amazing boat cruise experience. Our rooms are comfortable, spacious, clean, and self-contained.
Oh, I almost forgot to say the last but most important information. I want to remind you that you can book this boat cruise and our accommodation right here on our website. Payments for both the boat safari and accommodation can also be done in advance or on arrival at the lodge.
Which date should we book you on? Feel free to contact us any time when you have the answer!
We are specifically doing the following to prevent the acquisition and transmission of Covid19.
The payment options available are;
“Clean and safe for your stay”
The following are the community empowerment and conservation projects you can participate in during your visit to the elephant home. This work is ongoing and implemented in the rural communities surrounding the elephant home or other community’ lodges that share the same ecosystem with the national parks in the Rwenzori region.
To solve the problems of cutting trees, lack of income to buy charcoal and firewood, reducing on women suffering when collecting firewood, household hunger due to lack of energy, accidents caused by wild animals, and arrests to local community members when they encroach on the park environment for fuel, and many other problems associated to fuel scarcity, there needs to be a source of renewable energy that can be easily and affordably accessed by the households of Kikorongo community.
Kikorongo youth are engaged in the production of energy briquettes. The briquettes are made out of clay, charcoal dust, or any other wood shavings. These briquettes burn for longer, are made of purely local materials that have less impact on the environment, and can produce easily.
During the participation, the volunteer will learn how briquettes are made. You will also make your own to show off with or give them to the local households to use.
Kikorongo community is faced with excessive drought. It is probably one of the hottest areas in the region. Kikorongo receives a very small amount of rainfall annually. Besides, the land has been exhausted from excessive traditional farming. As a result, all households buy food which is imported from other areas. The community youth and women are running a revolutionary campaign to feed the soils and start household gardening to be able to supply their own household food. Feeding the soil is one sure way for fighting hunger in the community, especially now, when the community households are mainly dependent on handouts due to the impact of covid19 on their livelihoods.
The community is engaged in organic manures preparation and household gardening to be able to produce their own food. This is done on a voluntary basis where the household and other community members offer all the required local inputs ranging from labor, land, and the demonstration site. The external resources that come from tourism and small donations are used to buy the external inputs such as seeds and others. As part of this project, organic waste is collected and added to the manure piles. The none biodegradable waste such as plastic bottles, plastic bags is also innovatively used in other interventions of the activity, as much as possible.
During the participation in the project, volunteers will work with the project on the community demo sites and at the household level. When you travel to the area, you can carry some of the items to use, such as seeds, hand farming tools, reading materials, or just your motivation to participate.
Handcrafts production is one of the sure ways communities living next to the park can easily generate income from tourism at the comfort of their homes without stopping their household traditional roles. However, the produced items need to be well managed and presented to the market. The community women lack skills and inspiration in the production and marketing of crafts. Most of them have not moved out of their communities so they don’t understand what the tourists’ expectations are.
Twice a week, the community members come together to make handicrafts as they share ideas. During this time, we provide external experts to give them some training on crafts production and marketing as a way to provide some inspiration to the producers. The community has been empowered to run a crafts shop near the lodge, but they lack the skills of managing it well. They need some support to guide them on how to run the shop in order to attain proper crafts presentation and sales.
When volunteers participate in this project, they will be involved in handicrafts production, branding, and sales management. Most of the working time will be spent with the community women as you directly exchange skills with them during the work.
Kikorongo community is a sprouting urban center on the highway running next to Queen Elizabeth National Park. It is on the highway that connects the major towns of Kasese, Mbarara, and the Congo border. This location is also a tourism zone of the Queen Elizabeth National park. The area is surrounded by many lodges, meaning that most tourist vehicles pass through this community. Kikorongo community has a population of about 300 households (About 800 people)
The increase of the local population and businesses has led to a high generation of waste in the community. This waste pollutes the environment both in the community and in the neighboring areas of the park. The resulting pollution lowers soil production and attractiveness to the tourists. Eventually, the community losses money and food that would be potentially generated from tourism and agriculture respectively.
To address the pollution and increased waste generation, Kikorongo youth is involved in waste collection and management through reducing, reuse and recycling. With support from various well-wishers and the community effort, the youth group has established public waste collection bins and keeps sensitizing to raise awareness of the local community on proper waste management.
During the work on this project, the volunteers work on community capacity building on the Reduce, reuse, and recycle of waste. This involves involvement in the entire value chain, starting from attending the waste collection days to seeing new products made out of waste.
Empowering women is empowering the nation, and empowering the youth is empowering the future. We base on this to look for every opportunity of giving life skills to these two social groups of the community. When the community members can learn to produce their own basic needs, they save the money that would be spent on them. this saving can then be used for other investment needs. We intend to give both productions, entrepreneurship, and life skills so that the unemployment challenge can be addressed. Currently, we give tourism skills, handicrafts production skills agricultural skills, and personal life skills.
After the skilling, we give material support to the trainees to enable them to start the production process that allows them to use the knowledge acquired. During the work, volunteers share skills with the community on the running and other potential initiatives. Volunteers can also engage in other partnerships establishments especially product marketing and capacity building.
Under the buffer zone conservation initiative, the elephant home is involved in tree planting activities in the Rwenzori region. We have facilitated the growth of a few thousand trees at different locations and on the elephant home property. Because the elephant home is located in a semiarid savannah climate, we mainly promote the natural regeneration of the local forest but support the planting of trees in other areas where planting new indigenous trees can be more appropriate.
During this activity, volunteers will be able to provide support in areas of forest regeneration, tree planting, innovative tree planting resource mobilization, and forest management skills to the local communities involved in the work. The works involve seed collection, tree nursery management, tree planting, community awareness-raising on tree planting, tree planting-related tourism products
In the communities neighboring the national parks, agriculture is the main income earner followed by tourism and traditional gathering. Agriculture also provides an important source of food to every household. However, agriculture faces many challenges including extreme climate conditions, pastes, and diseases, perishability of produce during bumper harvest, wild animals dispersing from the park to ride the crops, etc.
In an effort to address the problem of perishability and fluctuating prices, the communities are being empowered to add value to their produce in post-harvest interventions. This effort is aimed to increase agricultural output and reduce wastage of food. This will increase the agriculture-related economic benefits hence diverting the communities from poaching if they can get reliable sustainable income to support household economic empowerment and alternative investment.
The community members are helped with three main crops; coffee, vanilla, and bananas. These are the main crops that generate a substantial income for the households but also are affected by the above-mentioned problems. Once empowered, the households can earn a considerable income increase from these crops. The key activities being promoted are; coffee drink processing, banana winemaking, vanilla curing, and banana fruit drying.
as we are still at the piloting stage, the Work on this activity mainly involves community training and knowledge exchange on the implementation of the post-harvest value addition processes. other areas of intervention include product development, marketing, and business development skills.
The elephant home is an affiliate of the buffer conservation project. The project generates all its support from community voluntary work, tourism revenue, and partnerships. Your participation in our work helps reduce the carbon footprint on the natural environment.
Please choose the project of choice and get back to us if you have any other questions regarding this community work initiative. Otherwise, you can proceed to reserve your space on the accommodation and work schedule, through our booking or contact us forms.
The Bakonzo are Bantu-speaking people. This tribe is one of the 54 tribes of Uganda. They live on the Rwenzori Mountains and are until now, known as the indigenous tribe of this mountain. The Bakonzo people originally traveled from the Congo and settled here about 300 years ago. There are about 800 000 Bakonzo people in Uganda today.
The Rwenzori Mountains are central to the life of the Bakonzo people who live on the lower slopes, and it is the home of their central spirit Kitasamba, king of the Mountains. In the local language (Lukonzo), Rwenzori means Rainmaker, and they are called Mountains of The Moon as during the day they are covered by cloud, but are often clear at night and visible by moonlight. These mountains are shared by Uganda and Congo. The mountains provide an important source of water as they supply water to the surrounding communities and to Lakes George, Edward, and Albert, which support an important fishing industry
The Bakonzo people are reliant on subsistence agriculture and despite poverty and economic problems; they are blessed with a plentiful supply of clean, fresh water and fertile soil. Traditional crops include millet, yams, beans, potatoes, and bananas. More recently new crops such as cassava, maize, and coffee are also grown.
The Bakonzo are distinctive from all other tribes of Uganda. They also stand out from the other Bantu tribes of Uganda in many ways. Their language dialect is not easily adopted by any other tribes of Uganda, including the closely living tribes such as the Batooro who live in Kabarole located on the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains. Many other ways of life stand out from all other Ugandan ethnic tribes, such as the way they carry their luggage, the naming of children, the clans, their diet, and the dressing code.
Because it is the most unique tribe of Uganda, you probably don’t know Uganda well, until you have met the Bakonzo people. To learn more about the Bakonzo tribe and culture, visit Ruboni community camp, in the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains.
Experience one of the most outstanding moments while at Queen Elizabeth National Park by participating in the village hill trek. It is a 3-5 hours hill trail overlooking this wildlife-packed savannah of Queen Elizabeth, astride Lake George at the equator. The trek offers one of the best views in the area.
This panoramic view gives it all. Viewing the lakes surrounded by expansive savanna is like a magical dream of the jungle. You will see the land dotted with grazing wild animals. on the earlier part of the trail, you can also be able to take the sight of fishing boats hovering over the waters in the middle of the jungle. With a local guide, the trek starts from the Elephant home, Kikorongo. The tour is offered in an affordable package that includes a packed lunch. Within the price, you will also get a day pack with 1 liter of water.
Taking this tour is probably the first time you will realize that 3 hours of trekking can feel to be too short. The beauty of this trail easily keeps you going without realizing the hustle of climbing the hills. It feels like flying over Queen Elizabeth National Park as you enjoy the views over Lakes; George and Kikorongo, that you won’t find anywhere else in the area.
Anybody can go on this trek with ease. It is suitable for all levels of strength since it has two optional routes. Those who wish to visit the mountain lake by car will be able to use a less scenic route driving to the village near the lake. The advantage of using a walking trail is that it is mainly open with short grasses and shrubs that allow for full-time views of the landscape in the entire region.
As you trek, unique plants, insects, and colorful birds are a common sight, making this trail a birder’s pick. With a bird guidebook, you will be amazed to spot and identify some of the birds such as black-headed Weaver, scaret_chested sunbird, and more. As you take the breaks, spend some time learning from the guide how the local people relate to these birds.
The hill trek gives every guest, an opportunity to live like a local for a moment. During the tour, you will meet and mix with the local people doing their local trades. These meetings can turn up to be all-round participation in the local life. From observing the local mountain architecture, innovative wats of transporting basic and commercial commodities, planting, harvesting, processing and tending to domestic animals. You ill also be amazed to hear the story of how the local culture contributes to the conservation of the natural habitat on these hills. The farmers are taking the effort to innovatively prevent the soil from flowing downhill.
This trek is a world on its own. You will be inspired by this survival economy that runs without any machinery on these hills. All basic needs such as firewood and other domestic luggage are carried manually on the back. The women carry with a string around the head, supported by the neck. They carry this way to have a balance on the mountainsides. As you intermingle with the mountain people, you will learn that this way of carrying is another bizarre adaptation by the tribe over years.
The hills are so fertile that everything put on the ground will germinate. The food grown contributes to the domestic food needs and income when they sell the surplus. The local crops grown on these hillside farms include; cotton, coffee, bananas, beans, and other vegetables. Visit the farms to take some pictures or even participate in the farm activities. The farmers will explain the farming processes of their crops.
After spending time with the farmers, you will continue to the most interesting point of the trail; the mountain lake, parched on the top of the mountain. At the most scenic spot next to the lake, you will take your picnic lunch. The farmer will tell you the story of the local beliefs and practices he knows about this mountain lake and how it formed in his garden. Take a tour around the lake to view it from different angles. The time at the lake is a memorable picture moment. After the tour around the lake is a good time to descend to your lodge at Queen Elizabeth national park.
It is very easy to arrange this trek if you want to take it. We require you to book at least one day before the trekking day. Contact us today to reserve your date.
Queen Elizabeth is the second oldest park in Uganda. Its size is 1978 square km, making it the second-largest in Uganda.
This park was established in the year 1952 as Kazinga National Park. This name lasted only two years, then it was renamed to its current name to commemorate the visit of the queen of England.
From the traditional tales, the land currently occupied by the park was a hunting ground for the local tribes. These tribes include the Batagwenda and Banyaruguru in the Bunyaruguru highlands and Bakonzo on the Rwenzori Mountains side.
At the creation of the park, this land was never settled due to the infestation of tsetse flies that were in the area. As a result, the people who used to live there had moved to other neighboring landscapes leaving the park to remain as an exclusive wildlife habitat. This land use has lasted until this current day. When it was turned into a National Park, hunting from here was reduced but the tribes kept hunting the stray animals that would go to the human residential areas since these areas were equally forested and sparsely settled.
In the year 1979 hunting wild animals by soldiers were permitted in Uganda National Parks during the rule of President Iddi Amin. This permission was also practiced in Queen Elizabeth, an act that accounts for a considerable loss of Uganda’s wild animals during that time.
However, due to the successive conservation strategies, the Uganda wildlife population has greatly recovered in recent decades, making the country one of the leading wildlife havens in east Africa. Specifically, this has qualified Queen Elizabeth to be the most preferred destination for wildlife activities in Uganda, that no one should miss.
Queen Elizabeth is dissected by a national public highway from Mbarara to Kasese/ fort portal. This road is tarmac and all-weather standard. The road makes a loop from Kampala and back to Kampala on both ends, making it easy to access Queen Elizabeth National Park by public transport. You can easily find buses from Kampala or Matau (shared taxis) in the neighboring towns passing through the park. No one will be allowed to enter beyond the gates on foot. This means if your lodge is inside the park, if you want to do a boat cruise at Mweya or any other activity, you will need to have private transport. If you visited by public transport, the cars can be easily hired from Katunguru, Kasese town, Kyambura, lake Katwe or at the Elephant home
Neighboring National Parks and how to get there after your stay in Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth is located in the center of natural wonders. Its neighborhood makes up other unique nature reserves and National Parks that can be reached in a few hours drive. as the west is entirely dominated by Rwenzori mountains, the East is covered by Kalinzu, Maramagambo, Kyambura and Kigezi wildlife reserves.
In the North, you find Kibale National Park, the home of chimps and other primates.
To the west, you find Rwenzori Mountains National Park forming the wonderful backdrop during the safari. Rwenzori is the scenic park for those who want to do all levels of adventurous mountain climbing.
South of Queen Elizabeth, you will find Bwindi forest almost touching ends. This is the home of the famous mountain gorillas.
From the immediate neighbor parks, you will find other parks such as Semuliki national park to the northwest, Murchison falls national park to the far north and Mugahinga gorilla national park to the far south.
It is possible to travel from Queen Elizabeth to any of these parks within one day. If you haven’t figured how to travel to/ from Queen or you need any other on-ground help, please feel free to contact us now. We will provide support from the smallest to the most complex holiday details, including travel, hotel reservation, and wildlife safaris or booking other destinations around Uganda.
Queen Elizabeth is home to over 95 mammals and more than 500 bird species and a variety of reptiles and small insects. The common animals you may see during your visit include;
Since this park is home to a large variety of bird species, every guest will not miss on birds during a game drive/ safari or the Kazinga channel boat cruise.
Location and access:
Queen Elizabeth is located about 400km, on the equator, west of Kampala. From Kampala, the two routes that can be used to access the park are;
For road transport, public and private means is easy to arrange from Kampala city, at no extra cost other than the net price of transportation. contact the Elephant home or your tour operator for current information regarding transportation.
It is also possible to fly to Queen Elizabeth from Kanjansi (Entebbe Road) to Kasese airstrip. Scheduled flights are available twice a day on most days of the week. Chartered flights can be arranged any day.
Year of establishment: 1952
Size: 1978 square km
Mammals species: over 95 mammals
Primates species: 10
Birds species: Over 500 species
Vegetation and land features: Savannah, Wetlands, Forests, fresh water lakes, salt lakes, rift valley escarpment, equator